Papers by Author: Bradley P. Wynne

Abstract: In the present work, a FEI Sirion FEG-SEM equipped with a Nordlys CCD camera controlled by HKL Channel 5 software has been used to characterize the crystallographic texture of 20mm thick friction stir welded AA6082-T651 and AA5083-O. The crystallogaphic texture has been nvestigated near the top surface of the weld nugget at the shoulder affected region and near the base of the nugget in the probe affected region. The crystallographic texture in the shoulder affected region is complex in terms of determing the local reference frame of deformation and it requires complicated rotations to resemble the ideal simple shear texture. This implies the complex deformation histroy experinced in this region. However, the crystallographic texture in the probe-dominated region is simple shear texture. This implies that the deformation conditions across the whole weld nugget in this region are mianly dominated by the shear deformation generated by the probe rotation with the forward motion of the tool only playing a minor role in determining the local deformation gradient. Alternating bands between (+)and (C) was observed in the NG region of FSWed AA6082. The existence of A component is observed with an existence of strong C texture component which implies that when the C component is strong it can be associated with the A texture components.The crystallographic texture of AA5083 at both the shoulder and the probe dominated region is weak relative to that of the AA6082 .

Abstract: A constitutive equation of flow stress based on the Norton-Hoff equation has been developed for the high chromium and nitrogen containing super duplex stainless steel, ZERON® 100 (UNS S32760). This was then used to model, using the finite element method, the strain distribution within a uniaxial compression test under typical two-phase forging conditions. Predictions from the model were used to correlate deformation history to microstructure morphology. The microstructure consisted of austenite, γ islands (both primary and secondary) within a ferrite, δ matrix that contained chromium nitride precipitates. For deformation temperatures of 1050°C and 1120°C, the small secondary austenite was equiaxed, whilst at 1280°C the secondary austenite exhibited a Widmanstätten morphology. The highest level of nitride precipitation occurred at the highest deformation temperatures, i.e. highest volume fraction of ferrite, independent of strain rate. This suggests that nitride precipitation appears to be driven to a greater extent by thermal factors than deformation substructure.

Abstract: The present work explores the importance of model parameters and input variables when simulating the quenching of thick sectioned nuclear forgings. The modelling approach adopted uses values of specific heat capacity, containing latent heat release, to simulate cooling curves; rather than calculating transformation kinetics based upon a mathematical model. Termed the effective specific heat (Cp_eff), two different methods were used to establish values: differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermos dynamic predictive software. Values were then included in finite element (FE) models to simulate the characteristic cooling at the mid-wall position in a thick section forging and were validated against production thermocouple data. The investigation found that the formation of ferrite, bainite and martensite or lower bainite were all represented by the data established using DSC and critical formation temperatures were comparable with others in the literature. Conversely, values calculated using the thermodynamic software failed to represent ferrite formation and predicted different critical transformation temperatures for bainite. The simulated cooling curve that used the software predicted Cp_eff data was comparable to the thermocouple data either side of the bainite transformation, however during the transformation the effects of latent heat on cooling rate were over predicting leading to disparities. The equivalent DSC cooling curves produced a near exact match.

Abstract: Large-scale forging segments with two different section thicknesses (100 and 250 mm) were separately subjected to water, polymer solution and vegetable oil quenching and then tempered to evaluate the influence of cooling rate on microstructure and mechanical properties under industrial conditions. Regardless of quenching media, the fastest cooling rates are obtained in the thin (100 mm) sections of the ring segments. For the two cross sections, water and vegetable oil generated the faster and slower cooling times, whilst an intermediate cooling timebetween that of water and oil was achieved with polymer solution. Slightly enhanced mechanical properties in the thin sections are associated to the presence of fine mixtures of tempered martensite and tempered bainite (lower type morphology) compared to the thick section microstructure mostly composed of coarse tempered bainite with granular and lower type morphologies and small amounts of tempered martensite. The results obtained in this study also suggest the possibility of using vegetable oil as an alternative quenching media for large-scale forgings with high-specification requirements.

Abstract: Powder produced by gas atomisation of metastable beta alloy Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr has been consolidated using field-assisted sintering technology (FAST) to examine the suitability of the process to produce pre-forged billets as opposed to the conventional multi-step Kroll-VAR-forging route. FAST testing was performed using an FCT Systeme GmbH spark plasma sintering furnace type HP D 25 at The University of Sheffield. The dwell temperature was varied between 800 and 1200°C and the dwell time between 3 and 60 minutes. The process was found to allow very precise control over the beta grain size in Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr by variation of the dwell time and dwell temperature, producing grain sizes between ~40 and ~350 μm. However, it was found that the grain size was increased more by increasing the dwell temperature than increasing the dwell time. The porosity was found to be between 99.5 and 100 % for all dwell temperatures at dwell times of 30 minutes or above. FAST has the ability to produce almost fully consolidated Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr pre-forged material from powder with a controlled beta grain size, which is not possible by other methods.

Abstract: The dynamic recrystallisation (DRX) behaviour of magnesium AZ31 is investigated using a plane strain compression (PSC) testing machine at 450°C. The variables included strain rate, double hit including intermittent anneal and double hits with different strain rate at each hit. The alloy shows higher peak stress and strain with increasing strain rates. Predominant basal texture with different intensities are observed at different strain rates. The annealing treatment between double tests leads to strong basal texture. Reversal of strain rate during double hit results in similar flow curves. This shows that in AZ31 alloy, DRX mechanism is independent of the initial microstructure and only depends on the test condition viz. temperature, strain rate and total equivalent strain.

Abstract: In the present study, monotonic and cyclical torsional deformations of an X-70 microalloyed steel were conducted at austenite temperatures below the recrystallisation-stop temperature (T_5%). The austenite deformation is followed by accelerated continuous cooling to allow the investigation of the strain reversal effect on the subsequent phase transformation mechanisms. The transformation behaviours were studied by a dilatometry method, and the microstructures of the transformed products have been analysed using electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD). The results of this study shows that although subjected to the same total cumulative strain and the same cooling rate, strain path reversal by cyclical torsion produces lower temperature transformation products involving mainly a displacive mechanism, comparing to simple strain path deformation which leads to higher temperature transformation by a reconstructive mechanism.

Abstract: Recent observations show that the strain reversal affects significantly and in a complex way both the static recrystallisation (SRX) and strain-induced precipitation (PPT) kinetics in Nb-microalloyed steel. It is already known that the recrystallisation stagnation is a consequence of the competition between the driving pressure for recrystallisation and the pinning pressure caused by the strain-induced precipitation of Nb (C,N) precipitates. Both of these parameters depend in turn on the local dislocation density. Thus, it is expected that a variation of the local dislocation density due to reversal of the strain will affect at the same time the local driving and the pinning pressures, which will cause the difference in the hardening levels. In the present paper, the influence of strain path change on microstructure evolution and mechanical behaviour in Nb-microalloyed steel (API X-70 grade) was studied. The deformation schedules were designed in order to investigate an effect of strain reversal on both static recrystallisation and strain-induced precipitation process kinetics. Flow curves recorded during deformation of X-70 steel showed clear influence of applied strain path on both static recrystallisation kinetics and strain-induced precipitation process.

Abstract: Changes in strain path represent one of the most important processing parameters that characterise hot metal forming processes. In the present study, the effect of strain path change on dynamic recrystallisation, strain-induced precipitation processes and phase transformation behaviour in plain carbon and Nb-microalloyed steels was investigated. To assess the effect of strain-path change, forward/forward and forward/reverse torsion tests were conducted. It has been shown that the strain reversal delays the dynamic recrystallisation kinetics whereas its effect on strain-induced precipitation process of Nb(C,N) is rather negligible. Also the onset of austenite-ferrite transformation is delayed; its products however doesn’t change significantly. This can be due to the fact that ferrite nucleation density plays the second order role compared to the geometry of deformation.

Abstract: The development of physically-based models of microstructural evolution during thermomechanical processing of metallic materials requires knowledge of the internal state variable data, such as microstructure, texture and dislocation substructure characteristics, over a range of processing conditions. This is a particular problem for steels, where transformation of the austenite to a variety of transformation products eradicates the hot deformed microstructure. This paper reports on a model Fe-30wt%Ni based alloy, which retains a stable austenitic structure at room temperature, and has therefore been used to model the development of austenite microstructure during hot deformation of conventional low carbon-manganese steels. It also provides an excellent model alloy system for microalloy additions. Evolution of the microstructure and crystallographic texture was characterised in detail using optical microscopy, XRD, SEM, EBSD, and TEM. The dislocation substructure has been quantified as a function of crystallographic texture component for a variety of deformation conditions for the Fe-30%Ni base alloy. An extension to this study, as the use of a microalloyed Fe-30% Ni-Nb alloy in which the strain-induced precipitation mechanism was studied directly. The work has shown that precipitation can occur at a much finer scale and higher number density than hitherto considered, but that pipe diffusion leads to rapid coarsening. The implications of this for model development are discussed.